About

Web design and development was a hobby before it became a career for me. Someone said before - "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life". I couldn't agree more. Front-end design and development is something I am often doing even outside of work. I love creating. I love seeing the web page come to life and explore creative ways to display content. I believe it is a form of art.

However, let's not think that it is solely putting color on the screen. There is an entire science built on top of it when you design with Usability in mind. This is known as User Experience (UX). Understanding the biometrics and demographics of your users is crucial to building a unique application that works for you. I love that about designing! In some way, it is hacking the minds of the users. Throughout my entire career, I have always explored and research the current UX concepts and practices so that I am up-to-date on what digital marketing strategies are being used. Let's face it, UX is a form of marketing, even if you aren't really selling anything.

And then, there is development! Every web designer's nemesis! But not mine. I believe a good front-end engineer is someone who knows and understands the design at every level. A designer who is incapable of writing the necessary code, at least from the API requests, can only cause unnecessary stress in the lifecycle of a project. If I am in a dedicated design role, I like to know how much effort will it take to code what I am designing and whether it will be feasible and attainable given the project's deadline. Likewise, if I am in a dedicated development role, I like to be able to produce high-fidelity designs on-the-fly without causing delays while I wait for a designer to help.

But accommodating this range of skills has not been easy. I have been designing and developing for 15 years and I feel comfortable with just about every wireframing tool that is used professionally (Sketch, Adobe, XD, Figma, Balsamiq, etc), many HTML/CSS libraries (Bootstrap, MaterialUI, UIKit, Quasar, etc.) including independent versions of those libraries that are specific to the JavaScript language used, such as ReactBootstrap or Angular Material. Which brings me to the JavaScript frameworks. Though I prefer Vanilla JavaScript, I understand the benefit of a Single Page Application framework such as React, Angular, and Vue. I have spent the last 8 years dwelling in these libraries and creating SPA Apps with full REST API integration. Including this very site you are on right now. Built in React, Bootstrap, and Firebase

As a separate journey, I am also an educator. Having served in the US Armed Forces have taught me one thing - "You learn your job, and then you teach it to the guy next to you". Those were the words from one of my First Sergeants. I have learned a lot from YouTube, and it is only fair that I give back to the community that has given me so much knowledge. I have a YouTube channel where I educate and teach Front-End development. You can find it here.

So, this was a lot to read, I know. Thank you for your time and I hope that I have left the impression that I am passionate about what I do and that I am not just a designer or just a developer, but a combination of both equally, and I am just as comfortable wearing either hat!